Tuesday, September 16, 2014

Long time, no post! I'm going to try to get back in the blogging habit. Thanks to those who emailed and encouraged me to post again.

This summer a Cooking Club friend invited me to see the movie Chef. I went in not knowing much about the film but found it to be completely delightful: a feel-good, witty story featuring the music and food of Los Angeles, Miami, New Orleans and Austin (warning: the movie will make you hungry).

Chef will be released on DVD (linked below left) on September 30th. The soundtrack (below right) is also great.

In one scene in the movie, Chef Carl, played by Jon Favreau who also wrote and directed the film, prepares a late-night dinner for Scarlett Johansson's character. I was so taken by the pasta he made that I found the recipe online: Pasta Aglio e Olio. I prepared the version from the movie once and then found Ina Garten's rendition of the same recipe and decided I prefer that one because it has less olive oil and parsley and more Parmesan. I just wish I could master the way Chef Carl twists the pasta so artfully into a bowl.

I have made this Spaghetti Aglio e Olio many times this summer. It is an incredibly fast dinner to prepare and I usually have all of the ingredients, except perhaps fresh parsley, on hand. I'm amazed that a recipe with so few ingredients can be so delicious.

I hope you have a chance to enjoy the movie, the soundtrack, the pasta or all three.

The cast of ingredients

The ingredients after I've sliced, chopped, and grated everything. Notice a glass of wine has now joined me for this endeavor

Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Add the pasta and cook al dente according to the directions on the package. Set aside some of the pasta cooking water before you drain the pasta.

Heat the olive oil over medium heat in a sauté pan large enough to hold the pasta. Add the garlic and cook for 2 minutes, stirring frequently, until it just begins to turn golden on the edges. Be careful not to overcook. Stir in the red pepper flakes and cook for 30 seconds more. Add the reserved pasta cooking water and one teaspoon salt to the garlic and oil and bring to a boil. Simmer over low heat for 5 minutes. Sauce should be reduced by about one-third.

Add the drained pasta to the garlic sauce and toss. Allow the pasta to rest off the heat for 5 minutes so that the sauce can be absorbed. Stir in the parsley and Parmesan and toss well (if you add the parsley too soon or while the heat is still on, it will clump fiercely and refuse to separate - trust me on this one). Add salt to taste and grate some fresh Parmesan over each serving.

7 comments:

I have missed your blog posts SO MUCH. A lot of people have gone to Instagram or Facebook instead of doing blogs, but they are no substitute. I was going to ask you why you were not posting, but did not want to annoy you.

CHEF is on my list of must-see movies.

I first had Spaghetti Aglio e Olio in 1975 in an old Italian restaurant, with oilcloth tablecloths, in downtown East Liverpool, Ohio. My father-in-law took us there. Downtown, BTW, is one block long. I loved it then and love it now. Someimes I add some small-diced tomatoes if I have fresh ones, at the last minute.

Pictured above, starting in upper left and moving clockwise:

Married for 27 years to Robert, three kids: Will (23), Vivian (20) and Dots (17) ~~~~
Majored in mathematics at SMU, taught elementary school for six years before Will was born, currently tutoring math ~~~~
Things I enjoy: playing duplicate bridge, working NY Times crossword puzzles, reading good books, entertaining, visiting with friends, planning trips, traveling, playing board games, spending time with family, cooking, keeping up with old friends ~~~ happy to correspond with other parents about raising a child with special needs

Note about Pictures

I unintentionally contaminated all of the pictures on my blog when I changed my privacy settings on Flickr. I am working backwards to correct them all, but it is quite a tedious procedure! If you encounter a post with error messages from Flickr where the pictures should be, then I haven't gotten to that post yet. Please let me know and I will update it immediately. Thanks for your patience!